Virginia Counties and Parishes
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Location: Virginia
Surnames/tags: Virginia Virginia_Colony southern_colonies
Virginia Counties
Virginia Independent Cities
Virginia Parishes
More Virginia Locations
Location: Virginia
Surnames/tags: Virginia Virginia_Colony southern_colonies
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Liz Shifflett 
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Important Notice: The following research by the Virginia Project and US Southern Colonies Project is provided for your information and use. The Virginia Project now covers post-1776 Virginia and US Southern Colonies Project covering "pre-USA" (before 4 July 1776, see below). ~ Liz Shifflett, project coordinator of the Virginia Project (May 2016-April 2018)
Contents |
Virginia
- Virginia has many burned counties, but sometimes parish records survived and many land records were sent to Richmond and have survived when other records have been lost. Connections between families and generations can sometimes be established if you "follow the land." To do that, you need to know where to look for records: what county might have recorded a deed transfer. To seek parish records, you need to know what county or counties the parish served when. Two invaluable external sources can help:
- History of County Formations in Virginia 1617-1995
- see also Maps of West Virginia
- Virginia parishes, posted by Freddie Spradlin on Virginia Genealogy Web, based primarily on "Hening's Statutes at Large (see vagenweb.org/hening/) and the list of parishes in The Hornbook of Virginia History, 4th edition, edited by Emily J. Salmon and Edward D. C. Campbell, Jr., Library of Virginia, Richmond, 1994."
- WikiTree has several projects and categories relative to Virginia's growth (and loss) over 400+ years — from Jamestown's foundation in 1607,[1] the Virginia Company's four incorporations,[2] and Virginia's eight original shires in 1634[3] through the secession of 50 counties that became West Virginia in 1863 to today's 95 counties and 38 independent cities that are considered county-equivalents for census purposes.[4]
- This page is intended to serve as a guide to those projects & categories. See also the Virginia Project's timeline at Virginia Dates.
1607
- Jamestown: see the Jamestown Project
1634-1776
- The US Southern Colonies project includes a subproject for Virginia that covers counties and parishes that existed in the colonial period.
- See categories for counties and parishes for that period under Category:Virginia Colony. See also Category:Virginia Parishes.
1776-1792 (Kentucky)
- Kentucky County, Virginia
- Kentucky County was formed from Fincastle County, Virginia in 1776-1777.[5]
- In 1780, Kentucky County, Virginia was abolished when it was divided into the Virginia counties of Fayette, Jefferson, and Lincoln counties.
- In 1792, those three counties and six other Virginia counties became the Kentucky counties of Bourbon, Fayette, Jefferson, Lincoln, Madison, Mason, Mercer, Nelson, & Woodford.
post-1792
- Several Virginia counties were created with the same names after those nine counties had become Kentucky. And several of those counties later became West Virginia.[6]
- Fayette, Jefferson, Mason, and Mercer counties existed as Virginia counties prior to 1792, and they existed again (in a different location) as Virginia counties prior to 1863, when they were among the 50 Virginia counties that became West Virginia. So we now have several more Virginia counties with the same name in two different locations, in addition to the two Rappahannock Counties that were not the same location (pre-USA, often seen as "Old Rappahannock" is Category:Rappahannock County, Virginia Colony and post-USA, which exists today, is Category:Rappahannock County, Virginia).
- To be technically accurate, there should also be more than one Virginia category for these other counties that had their names reused after they were no longer a Virginia county:[6]
- "pre-KY" - those nine Virginia counties that are now Kentucky - collectively "District of Kentucky
- "post-KY" - those "second of the name" counties, some of which are now West Virginia[6] - categorized under Virginia Trans-Allegheny Region Counties
- Because the time period covered is relatively brief, there are not two separate Virginia categories for the "pre-KY" & "pre-WV" counties of Fayette and Jefferson. However, there are two for Mason County and Mercer County:[6][7]
- pre-KY
- pre-WV
- Background: When WikiTree's USA location categories were created (a massive undertaking, much appreciated!), they were created for existing counties. Subsequently, categories for extinct counties have been created, and as noted in the table, many counties have both "Virginia Colony" and just "Virginia" (post-USA) categories. Among the historic Virginia categories created were those for all 50 counties that became West Virginia in 1863. Work was underway to create Virginia categories for those that became Kentucky in 1792, but hit a snag because Virginia reused some of the names, causing confusion. Work is now proceeding to add the nine counties that became Kentucky to the county table and to create a table showing the Virginia and Kentucky categories with a column showing if Virginia re-used the name.
1790-1846 (DC)
- From 1791 to July 9, 1846, the District of Columbia included land that had been ceded from Virginia. During that period, consider also adding Category:Washington, District of Columbia and explaining in the profile that D.C. at that time extended south of the Potomac River.
1863 (West Virginia)
- On June 20, 1863, 50 counties that had separated from Virginia were admitted to the Union as West Virginia (the table below has links to the Virginia and West Virginia categories for these counties).
- The 50 counties that separated from Virginia to form West Virginia are included under Category: Virginia as well as Category:West Virginia (see the table below for category links). New counties formed from those 50 counties after 1863 are listed only under Category:West Virginia.
- See also Maps of West Virginia.
Location Category Tables
Counties, Independent Cities, Parishes, and More
- The following four tables have links to WikiTree's categories for Virginia locations, past and present:
- Counties
- Independent Cities considered county-equivalents for census purposes
- Parishes
- More: Other Virginia cities and communities with a project or category page
- Links to existing categories can be found with each name in the tables below: Colony, VA, and WV will link to the corresponding category under Category:Virginia Colony, Category:Virginia, and Category:West Virginia.[8] The Virginia Company's four incorporations of 1619 – Henricus, Charles City, James City, and Kecoughtan[9] and Virginia's eight original shires of 1634 are included separately at the beginning of the first table.
- If a county shares the same name as a Virginia city or parish listed in those tables, it will include a link to its entry in that table (IC, P, or M for Independent City, Parish, or "More", for locations in that table).
- Note – A goal is to have dual Colony and Commonwealth categories when appropriate, but as of today (May 17, 2016), this is not the case. Also, the Virginia category has an extra category – Unknown County, Virginia – for profiles of people known to have a Virginia connection, but where in Virginia is not known.
- The name links in the following tables for Counties, Independent Cities, Parishes, and more are to an existing project or space page (if more than one, a footnote will describe the link and provide any additional link). A goal of the United States History Project (parent to the Virginia Project) is to have a project or space page for each county in the United States. Post a comment on this page if you would like to "adopt" a Virginia location.[10] The category Virginia Parishes lists all WikiTree parish categories.
- Note: Dates included in the tables are primarily from Virginia County Formation Maps.
Virginia Counties
Virginia Independent Cities - Note - This list includes only a few categories. See WikiTree's Category: Independent Cities, Virginia and Wikipedia's List of cities and counties in Virginia.
- Bedford (1968-2013)[4] (also under the category for Bedford County)
- Bristol
- Fairfax, Virginia
- Franklin, Virginia
- Norfolk, Virginia
- Richmond, Virginia
- Warwick[4]
- Williamsburg[4]
- Winchester (1874)
From List of former counties, cities, and towns of Virginia (Wikipedia, accessed 30 March 2018):
- Seven Virginia cities are now considered extinct. These should not be confused with many small developments in the 17th century that were called "cities," but in modern terminology were towns:
- City of Bedford (1968-2013) reverted to become an incorporated town in Bedford County
- City of Clifton Forge (1906–2001) reverted to become an incorporated town in Alleghany County
- City of Manchester (1874–1910) consolidated with the independent City of Richmond
- City of Nansemond (1972–1974) consolidated with the independent City of Suffolk
- City of South Boston (1960–1995) reverted to become an incorporated town in Halifax County
- City of South Norfolk (1919–1963) boundaries extended to include Norfolk County and name changed to independent City of Chesapeake
- City of Warwick (1952–1958) consolidated with the independent City of Newport News
Virginia Parishes - Parish categories are collected under the category Virginia Parishes (the list below matched those collected there as of 11 March 2022).
- See also VAGenWeb's Parishes of Virginia by Freddie Spradlin.
- Parish categories are collected under the category Virginia Parishes (the list below matched those collected there as of 11 March 2022).
- Parish categories do not split Virginia and Virginia Colony. If you need to create a parish category, use Virginia if a parish existed past 1776 and do not include a county name (a couple of previosly created parish catgories include a county, and some include a county when needed to distinguish separate parishes of the same name). Thanks!
- Abingdon Parish, Virginia Colony
- Albemarle Parish, Virginia Colony
- Bath Parish, Virginia
- Blisland Parish, Virginia Colony
- Bristol Parish, Virginia
- Cameron Parish, Virginia Colony
- Charles Parish, York County, Virginia Colony
- Christ Church Parish, Virginia Colony
- Cople Parish, Virginia Colony
- Cumberland Parish, Virginia Colony
- Dettingen Parish, Virginia Colony
- King William Parish, Virginia (see also Manakin, Virginia)
- James City Parish, Virginia
- King William Parish, Virginia Colony
- Kingston Parish, Virginia Colony
- Lawnes Creek Parish, Virginia Colony
- Lynnhaven Parish, Virginia Colony
- New Poquoson Parish, York County, Virginia Colony
- North Farnham Parish, Virginia Colony
- Nottoway Parish, Virginia (1634 until after 1785)
- Nottoway Parish, Amelia County, Virginia Colony (1744-1788)
- Overwharton Parish, Virginia
- Petsworth Parish, Virginia
- Piankatank Parish, Virginia Colony
- St. Anne's Parish, Virginia Colony (1704 until after 1785)
- St. Anne's Parish, Albemarle County, Virginia (1744 until after 1785)
- St. George's Parish, Virginia Colony
- St. James Parish, Virginia Colony (1720 until after 1785)
- St. James Southam Parish, Virginia (1744 until after 1785)
- St. James Parish, Mecklenburg County, Virginia (1761 until after 1785)
- St. Martin's Parish, Virginia
- St Marys Parish, Virginia Colony
- St. Mary's Whitechapel Parish, Virginia Colony (Lancaster County)
- St. Paul's Parish, Virginia (serving New Kent County, then Hanover County)
- St. Paul's Parish, Stafford County, Virginia Colony
- St. Paul's Parish, King George County, Virginia
- St. Peter's Parish, Virginia
- St Stephens Parish, Northumberland County, Virginia Colony
- St. Thomas Parish, Virginia Colony
- Sittenburne Parish, Virginia Colony
- South Farnham Parish, Virginia
- Stratton Major Parish, Virginia Colony
- Tillotson Parish, Virginia
- Truro Parish, Virginia
- Ware Parish, Virginia Colony
- Washington Parish, Virginia
- Westover Parish, Virginia
More Virginia Locations
Virginia had declared her independence and adopted a Constitution before 4 July 1776, shedding "Colony" status and becoming the "Commonwealth of Virginia" by 29 June 1776 when Patrick Henry was elected Governor under the newly approved Constitution of Virginia.[15] For additional details, see the Virginia Project page ("Virginia Dates" section.
WikiTree uses 4 July 1776 as the beginning of the United States for purposes of categorization and the database (e.g., "USA too early" DBE suggestions).
- Footnotes
- ↑ see the Jamestown Project
- ↑ Henricus, Charles City, James City, and Kecoughtan (Virginia Places)
- ↑ listed here, on the Southern Colonies British Virginia page
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Wikipedia: List of cities and counties in Virginia
- ↑ History of County Formations in Virginia 1617-1995
- See also kentuckyformationmaps.html History of County Formations in Kentucky 1776-1939 (Rootsweb) (archive.org) and Lincoln County, Kentucky (Wikipedia)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Six of the nine names were reused. The "new" Madison and Nelson counties (created 1792 and 1807, respectively) continue today as Virginia counties. Four "second of the name" counties - Fayette, Jefferson, Mason and Mercer - were among those that became West Virginia. Virginia did not reuse Lincoln, but West Virginia created a Lincoln County in 1867 from parts of Boone, Cabell, Kanawha and Putnam counties (which had previously been Virginia counties). See the Rootsweb formation maps for Virginia for locations. That page is currently not available at Rootsweb, but a non-animated version is accessible through archive.org's Wayback Machine.
- ↑ The date given for West Virginia's creation varies from 1861 to 1865 (the year Virginia seceded to the end of the War), although officially it was 20 June 1863 that West Virginia was admitted to the Union as a slave state.
- ↑ An additional table lists just the 50 counties that changed from Virginia to West Virginia during the War Between the States, with links to their category pages.
- ↑ Virginia Places
- ↑ See also the Virginia Project's List of Things To Do, which includes a link to the One Place Studies page that tracks county adoptions.
- ↑ See Category:Elizabeth City, Virginia Colony and also Wikipedia.
- ↑ 1634 - 1643, Category: Accomac Parish, Virginia Colony; 1643 - 1663, Category: Northampton County, Virginia Colony; 1663 - 4 July 1776, Category: Accomack County, Virginia Colony and Category: Northampton County, Virginia Colony (drop "Colony" 4 July 1776, which is start of USA for WikiTree purposes). See also Space: Accomack County, Virginia.
- ↑ See Category:Elizabeth City, Virginia Colony, Category:Elizabeth City County, Virginia Colony, and Category:Elizabeth City County, Virginia (1776-1954). In 1636, Elizabeth River Shire divided into Elizabeth City Shire (soon County) and New Norfolk County; New Norfolk County ceased in 1637, when it was divided into Lower and Upper Norfolk Counties (Virginia County Formation Maps).
- ↑ in 1643, name changed to Warwick County, which existed until 1952, when it was abolished and incorporated as Warwick City (Virginia County Formation Maps)
- ↑ Wikipedia: Virginia, Virginia Conventions, and District of Columbia, Virginia retrocession (see the Wikipedia articles for sources cited)
Sources
- External links
- Virginia Memory: Chancery Records Index
- Virginia Places, How Counties Got Started in Virginia
- How Virginia Got Its Boundaries
- History of Virginia Counties
- Encyclopedia of Virginia's map that "shows the division of Virginia into counties for the purpose of governance, and the evolution of those districts from 1634 to 1640" here.
- Atlas of Historical Counties
- Major sources used in creating this page -
- WikiTree pages
Category Links
for the 50 counties that changed from Virginia to West Virginia
(admitted to the Union on June 20, 1863)
Collaboration
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- Public Q&A: These will appear above and in the Genealogist-to-Genealogist (G2G) Forum. (Best for anything directed to the wider genealogy community.)
Could you please remove the Category: St Peter's Parish, New Kent County, Virginia Colony from the text since it's being deleted? (It's down in the list of Virginia Parishes. Thanks, Natalie
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Floyd_County%2C_Virginia
There was never a Casey County, Virginia, and it was formed after 1792 (when Kentucky was formed from several Virginia counties, including Lincoln County). So, Casey County would belong fully under the Kentucky project - and it's listed in that project's table of counties... see https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Project:Kentucky & also https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Casey_County%2C_Kentucky
Cheers, Liz
Casey County, Kentucky formed in 1806 the western part of Lincoln County https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casey_County,_Kentucky
Upper Norfolk - copied from http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~george/countyformations/virginiaformationmaps.html -
Formed in 1637 from New Norfolk County.
In 1646, it was renamed Nansemond County for the area's Nansemond Indians. The county seat was Suffolk.
The county became the independent city of Nansemond in 1972, and, in 1974, Nansemond merged with the city of Suffolk. The entire area is now known as Suffolk.
Patrick Henry County is listed on the OPS table, and it is linked to the Category page for Patrick County, which says:
"Patrick County was formed in 1791, when Patrick Henry County was divided into Patrick County and Henry County. Patrick Henry County was named for Patrick Henry, and was formed in 1777. . . " (no citation)
A "Patrick Henry County" is not listed by the County Formation Maps site, which has the following information:
continuing (next comment) with other counties in the OPS table but not here.